For all of the Austin American-Statesman's Big 12, Texas A&M, Texas State and other college sports coverage, check out our beat writers' news, notes and random thoughts here all season long. On Twitter: @StatesmanU.

Tag: cfp

For the first time, two Southeastern Conference teams will be in the four-team College Football Playoff.

Alabama, which did not win its division let alone its league, was given the No. 4 spot over Big Ten champion Ohio State.

Bo Scarbrough of the Alabama Crimson Tide (9) in action against the Texas A&M Aggies on Oct. 7, 2017 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. (Robert Backman/Cal Sport Media/Zuma Press/TNS)

Defending national champion Clemson, the ACC winner, is the No. 1 seed and will play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day in one semifinal.

Big 12 champion Oklahoma, the No. 2 seed, will play SEC champion Georgia, the No. 3 seed, in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day in the other semifinal.

The selection committee considered the Crimson Tide stronger than the Buckeyes, even though Bama had a weaker resume.

Alabama only lost one game, a road loss to Auburn. Ohio State, which played the stronger schedule, was pounded twice, including a blowout loss at unranked Iowa.

“Alabama was clearly the No. 4 team in the country as a non-champion,” said selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt, athletic director at Texas Tech. “Alabama’s one loss was on the road to Auburn in a very competitive game. Ohio State is a two-loss team and more damaging was a 31-point loss to Iowa.

“Ohio State’s wins over CFP top-25 teams was impressive, but we spent a lot of time talking about full body of work. It was consistent as we saw Alabama week in and week out as the better team over Ohio State.”

Hocutt noted that 14 of the 16 teams selected to the first four playoffs have been conference champions.

“But we have the discretion to put a non-champion in the field,” he said. “We did it last year with Ohio State and this year with Alabama.”

In the OU-Georgia matchup, the Sooners will be led by presumptive Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield of Lake Travis High School.

Oklahoma has won four in a row against the SEC and is 7-3 against that league since 2000.

The Sooners have appeared once in the Rose Bowl, beating Washington State 34-14 after the 2002 season in a BCS non-title game.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson #4 of the Clemson Tigers celebrates after throwing a 2-yard game-winning touchdown pass during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide to win the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Game 35-31 at Raymond James Stadium on January 9, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Now that Clemson’s national championship is in the books, here is a complete look back at the American-Statesman’s preseason Top 25 poll — along with how we fared.

AMERICAN-STATESMAN PRESEASON POLL

Our rank, Team…..Final AP poll / comment

Clemson…..Bingo! Direct hit. Deshaun Watson and the Tigers went 14-1 and won national championship.

Corey Davis #84 of the Western Michigan Broncos and Michael Henry #83 celebrate winning the MAC Championship over the Ohio Bobcats 29-32 on December 2, 2016 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Some Group of Five schools, disappointed they cannot find a way into the four-team College Football Playoff, are tossing around the idea of creating their own tournament.

“It’s time to have a realistic conversation about creating a playoff for the Group of Five,” Frazier told ESPN. “Why not? There is absolutely no ability for us (teams in the Group of Five) to be in that national title conversation. That’s just reality. Anyone that says we can: That’s a flat-out lie.”

In three years of the College Football Playoff, the 12 spots have been gobbled up by the Power Five conference schools.

This year Western Michigan, from the Mid-American Conference, went 13-0, including a pair of wins over Big Ten teams, yet only finished 15th in the final CFP committee rankings.

American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco, who runs the strongest of the Group of Five leagues, is strongly opposed to the idea of an NIT-like tournament.

“The answer is an emphatic no,” Aresco told ESPN. “We compete for national championships like anyone else in FBS, including the Power Five, and have no interest in any kind of separate championship.”

Another G5 athletic director described having their own playoff as playing for a “junior varsity champion.”

Washington’s Dante Pettis and John Ross celebrate Pettis’ touchdown in the first quarter to put the Huskies up 14-0 against Washington State in the 109th Apple Cup at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016. Washington won, 45-17. (Lindsey Wasson/Seattle Times/TNS)

Ohio State held its ground, Washington entered the top four and Big 12 hopes of making the College Football Playoff all but vanished Tuesday night.

Alabama, the only unbeaten in the Power Five, remains No. 1 in the new committee rankings. Ohio State, which rallied past Michigan in dramatic fashion, stayed No. 2 and Clemson moved up one spot to No. 3.

Washington climbed into the pivotal No. 4 position with Michigan’s loss. However, the Wolverines had to be cheered by only dropping two places to No. 5, meaning they’ve still got a shot at making the playoffs.

Oklahoma, however, lost ground with the committee, falling from No. 8 to No. 9 on a bye week. The Sooners was passed by the Pac-12’s Colorado, which beat No. 20 Utah.

Oklahoma State stayed at No. 10.

It’s difficult to see how the Bedlam rivalry, which will decide the Big 12 championship, could carry enough weight to lift either team all the way into the top four.

The critical conference championship games this week will be Clemson trying to avoid an upset against Virginia Tech in the ACC, No. 4 Washington vs. No. 8 Colorado in the Pac-12 and No. 6 Wisconsin vs. No. 7 Penn State in the Big Ten.

No. 24 Houston is the only team from the state of Texas in the Top 25.

Texas A&M’s Christian Kirk (3) sways along with teammates during the singing of the Aggie War Hymn after the team’s 52-10 win over New Mexico State in an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Sam Craft)

The October surprise in college football carried one day into November.

Texas A&M is No. 4 in the season’s first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, while the Big 12, the Aggies’ former conference, is nowhere to be found.

Alabama and Clemson, who met in the last national championship game, are first and second, in that order. Resurgent Michigan occupies third place.

A one-loss A&M team from the SEC — not undefeated Washington — is in the fourth and final spot. The Huskies are fifth.

Big 12 expectations were low for the first of six weekly CFP rankings. But not this low. Oklahoma is the highest-rated Big 12 team at No. 14.

Baylor is 17th, followed by Oklahoma State in 18th and West Virginia in 20th. Seven two-loss teams are ahead of the one-loss Bears, and nine two-loss teams are listed before the one-loss Mountaineers.

Big 12 coaches on Monday’s teleconference knew it wasn’t going to be pretty for the league, the lowest-rated Power Five conference by several computers.

“We’ve had plenty of years where we’ve been in the top 10, so that’s just where it is today,” said Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops. “It’s early.”

Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy said these things run in cycles.

“You go through ups and downs. Every league other than the SEC has been through this,” he said.

“There’s been so much talk to up the ante there,” he said. “You’ve got to be careful on who challenge and take on in the preseason. If your team’s not ready and you get banged around a little bit, then essentially, you could be out of the latter part of the year in these rating systems we have.”

Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt, the new chair of the 12-person playoff committee, indicated Texas A&M’s strength of schedule gives it the nod over Washington at this point.

The Aggies schedule is rated 23rd toughest in the nation; the Huskies are 69th. A&M’s only loss was 33-14 at Alabama, a game in which the Aggies were close until the fourth quarter. A&M has beaten No. 9 Auburn, along with quality wins over UCLA, Tennessee and Arkansas.

A&M only has one severe test left, a season ender against No. 13 LSU at Kyle Field.

Washington has chances to impress the committee with games against Southern Cal and Washington State and probably a Pac-12 title game.

The Big Ten shows a ton of strength in the first rankings with four top-10 teams: No. 3 Michigan, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 10 Nebraska.

The SEC has four of the first 11 teams: No. 1 Alabama, No. 4 A&M, No. 9 Auburn and No. 11 Florida.

The good news for those not in the top four right now: Only three of eight teams in that position in the first two years went on to make the playoffs.

The final rankings will be released Dec. 4, with the top four teams moving on to the College Football Playoff semifinals on New Year’s Eve in the Fiesta and Peach bowls.

North Texas hosted the first College Football Playoff championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. But it’ll be a long time before a title contest returns to the Lone Star State.

Atlanta, Santa Clara, Calif., and New Orleans were awarded championship games Wednesday by the playoff management committee.

San Antonio (Alamodome) and Houston (NRG Stadium) were among those in the bidding.

So here are the next five years worth of title games, included the next two that had already been doled out:

2015-16: Glendale, Ariz.

2016-17: Tampa

2017-18: Atlanta

2018-19: Santa Clara

2019-20: New Orleans

The Atlanta Falcons’ new stadium, which will open in 2017, will be the site of the championship game Jan. 8, 2018. Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, will host the January 2019 title game. The New Orleans Superdome won the 2020 event.

“We might have the worst first-quarter defense in college football right now. Holy smokes,” coach Gary Patterson said after TCU allowed 21 quick points on the road Saturday night before smoking Iowa State 45-21.

“We’re beaten up pretty good. The break is coming at the right time because we need the 12 days to get healthy. All in all, though, I like where we’re positioned.”

A lot of teams around the country feel the same way. A quick glance at the long list of contenders, in order of the AP poll:

Ohio State (7-0): J.T. Barrett relieved ineffective Cardale Jones and ignited the offense. Will Urban Meyer finally see the light and turn to the Texan full-time? The Buckeyes should cruise until Nov. 21 vs. Michigan State.

Baylor (6-0): A ridiculously explosive team averaging 64 points and 720 yards has a cakewalk until a three-game November stretch of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU. Corey Coleman for Heisman? Or Seth Russell?

Utah (6-0): The Utes, with RB Devontae Booker and their ball-hawking defense, have the best body of work of all. Yet the Pac-12 is loaded, and a trip to USC on Saturday won’t be easy.

TCU (7-0): Trevone Boykin is doing all he can to stay in the Heisman conversation. An even better sign: The Frogs patchwork defense pitched a shutout Saturday after the first quarter.

LSU (6-0): Leonard Fournette can run over you, or around you. The Tigers defense looks more vulnerable than expected. The annual grudge match with Alabama on Nov. 7 will tell all.

Clemson (6-0): The Tigers have that gritty win over Notre Dame, but we’ll find out about them over the next three weeks: at Miami (4-2), at North Carolina State (4-2), home to Florida State (6-0).

Michigan State (7-0): Somebody up there is looking out for the Spartans. The incredible, last-play win over Michigan will go down as one of the five craziest finishes in college football.

Alabama (6-1): Folks, this is vintage Bama. Power offense. Dominant defense. Remember, the Tide turned the ball over five times in that fluky loss to Ole Miss.

Florida State (6-0): The Seminoles entered the season with lowered expectations. Not any more. Terrific RB Dalvin Cook is carrying this offense.

Stanford (5-1): That opening loss to Northwestern is totally bizarre. Since then, the Cardinal have hung 41, 55 and 56 points on three good Pac-12 teams.

Notre Dame (6-1): The Irish get ready to tackle back-to-back trips to Pennsylvania to face a couple of teams (Temple and Pitt) that nobody thought would be ranked.